Raleigh, N.C. — The victim of a home invasion described for a Wake County jury Wednesday the harrowing ordeal of waking up in the middle of the night to a gun pressed into her neck, a flashlight shining in her face and being robbed of two laptops and some cash at her Raleigh home last year – all while her two young children slept in a nearby room.

Shabar Master Marshall, 17, is on trial this week for a number of charges, including kidnapping and burglary, in the Dec. 11 home invasion on Dorety Place in east Raleigh.

Authorities say it was the first in a series of similar crimes in which Marshall, 16 at the time, is charged. The final break-in was Jan. 7 when a man was shot in his spine and his wife sexually assaulted at their home in Raleigh's historic Oakwood neighborhood.

Testifying as the first witness in his trial for the December crime, the victim, Kortney Shearin, said Wednesday that Marshall repeatedly asked her for money, laughed at her, called her names and attacked her before she managed to get away and call 911.

"I saw the silhouette of what I presumed to be a man in the doorway of my bedroom," Shearin told jurors. "He entered the bedroom and pulled out a gun, and then I sat up and put my hands up, and he said, 'Give me your money.'"

Shearin said she was ultimately forced to her kitchen, where she eventually realized that the gun was a toy, and she and Marshall fought before the gun shattered into pieces on the floor.

"I grabbed (the gun) and shoved him," she said. "I just wanted him out of my house."

Four weeks later, police recovered her stolen laptop from a hotel room where Marshall had been staying.

On it, Shearin said, were pictures of Marshall, and she recognized him as the man who broke into her home.

"I said, I think that's the guy,'" Shearin testified.

But defense attorney George Kelly focused on Shearin's identification of Marshall and a different man she identified as a suspect in an earlier line-up in the case.

Marshall faces a dozen other charges in connection with four other burglaries in Raleigh between the Dec. 11 and Jan. 7 crimes.

He was arrested Jan. 7, shortly after police responded to a similar home invasion in which a man and his wife, too, awoke in the middle of the night to find Marshall and his brother in their bedroom on East Lane Street.

The wife was able to get away to call 911 when her husband was shot. He is now paralyzed.

Marshall, and his brother, Jahaad Tariem Allah Marshall, 26, face numerous charges in that case and could go to trial next year.

Prosecutors hope a conviction in the Dec. 11 case could result in tougher sentences when he is tried on the other charges.

DontVote4LiarsCheatsOrThievesNov 25, 2013

luv2 - "What does tick me off is how & why he didn't know where this 16 year old was in the middle of the night."

Exactly!!!

There are far too many parents nowadays who have no clue as to where their teens, and even pre-teens and younger, are at all times of the day, especially nighttime.

If we missed supper when we were kids, even teens, when we did come home, we got paddled and sent to bed without supper, so I tell ya, we didn't do that more than once or twice.

Nowadays if a parent tried that, even though it was well deserved, police would be lined up outside their doors.

And that is one reason why we have 6-8-10-12 year old brats committing crimes nowadays, even murder.

DontVote4LiarsCheatsOrThievesNov 25, 2013

Too bad Shearin didn't have a REAL firearm. Then maybe the people in Oakwood would still be a fit and healthy couple.

beachboaterNov 14, 2013

More familiar with the last home invasion where the man was paralyzed, these two brothers need to be put in the worst maximum security prison in N.C. for a very long time.

luv2funrunNov 14, 2013

I applaud the Dad for not going downtown when his son was arrested. What does tick me off is how & why he didn't know where this 16 year old was in the middle of the night. Mine is 21 and attends college, but when visiting us at home has to account for his whereabouts. I had to do it with my parents and he has to do it with us! Still has a curfew.

Tax ManNov 14, 2013

Anyone who sneaks into anothers home at any time should spend the rest of their lives in prison. If they hurt anyone while invading a home then the death penalty should be on the table. Your home should be sacred and safe for your and your family/friends. Those who break into homes need to see the receiving end of a gun just before the bullet splits their skulls. This is the worst kind of criminal there is.

dsdaughtryNov 14, 2013

perhaps the law should be changed for those charged and convicted of home invasion receive a minimum 10 year sentence.

raleighboy524Nov 14, 2013

Raleigh crime REALLY bad.

VW girl 2013Nov 14, 2013

Deadbolts on the doors, security alarm, three dogs, and by next summer, a concealed carry permit! Better think twice before messing with my house. Oh, and a cop lives 2 doors down...good for the subdivision! :)

Wake1Nov 14, 2013

These two have forfeited their right to be part of society - they should be punished to hard manual labor the rest of their lives!

dmccallNov 14, 2013

This action is probably the biggest crime against society one can commit. If we cannot be comfortable in our own homes, then what do we have?